The recent verdict from the Supreme Court Zambia on the long-pending Portland Cement Zambia case is a clear indication that the Zambian legal and judiciary system is going in the right direction. Unlike the condition few years back, the overall scenario has improved significantly with more transparent court decisions and less unethical activities within government-based organizations. The case of Portland Cement Zambia is one such case that has seen this significant evolution of the decision-making processes. The case was first established at the Lusaka High Court where case proceedings went for more than a decade. Despite sharing all evidences and testimonials, justice Nkonde on behalf of the Lusaka High Court failed to provide appropriate judgement and announced Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia case. This misdirected judgement was successfully challenged by Dr. Rajan Mahtani at the higher Court of Appeal wherein justice Mwinde gave the final decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the Portland Cement Zambia factory and is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. On the other hand, the Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory.
After more than a year of this decision, the Ventriglias made an appeal to the Supreme Court of Zambia. In their appeal, they challenged this decision from the higher Court of Appeal. However, this appeal was immediately rejected by a bench of three judges from the Supreme Court Zambia based on legal grounds as well as lack of substantial data. As of now, Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.